The Patriot
by Agrath
Summary: This is the story of Yeerk assassin Agrath71. She is a true patriot of empire and does what she is told with ruthless efficiency.
1. Prologue

**-:-Data Log::452-Nightshifter-:-**

It's been a while since I've reflected back on my training days. Though it's not like I have the time. It's fleeting, always in short supply. Time is everything for me. For all of my kind. Everything must be planned and executed precisely. There is no room for mistakes in an empire built on war. There is no room for failure. We are the Mighty Yeerk Empire and we are the true commanders of the universe.

Those sentiments are not my own. That is only what they told me. Back all of those years ago on my first day of training. Little did I know that those sentiments were below the Vissers that commanded the fleets. Little did I know that even the Council will fall to their mistakes. Little did I know I would be the that would clean up the messes. The botched murders. The lost wars. The heads of leaders line my walls. Yeerk, Andalite, Gedd, Taxxon, Human, Hork-Bajir. Throw a species at me and I will subdue it. It will bow to my blade or fall to it.

I was made perfect.

I had it hard, harder than most of my people. I was not to be a warrior, nor a diplomatic leader. I was to be a killing machine. Hand picked for my guile. I was to be an assassin. _The _Assassin. I am Agrath71 of the Hett Simplat Pool. And this is my story.

** -:- Initiating Memory Dump: A71M001 -:-**


	2. Chapter 1

**-:-Earth Date: May 6th, 1984-:-**

By the Council, I hate being blind. Weak, helpless. I was useless and they knew it. My brothers and sisters in the pool boasted about training, but I'll never see it. They boasted about sight, strength, grace. I've never known such things. Why was I so different from the ones in my pool? What made them so much more important that they get a body before me? I was aggitated. I try to use up the energy by swimming, but it doesn't do anything to quell the restlessness.

On my circuit around the pool I chanced to run into Gilth879, an oldster. He was possibly the oldest Yeerk in history. He refused to meld and split. He never told anyone why and none of us were foolish enough to ask. He was not a Council member, nor a Visser, but he had their ear at any time. He was an asset in a pool for that purpose; those who have his ear, have the Council's ear. He was my mentor.

"Oldster Gilth, my brothers and sisters have gone into their hosts. Why am I overlooked? I've been here as long as they are and I know I am ten times the Yeerk they are. Many of them aren't even smart enough to palp meld with the computers!" I fumed and cursed in Yeerkish, forgetting my place for a bit, but he listened.

"_Have_you palp melded to do your studies? As unintelligent as the others are, they have been doing their studies. Use my passcode, Fel20gon. You will find everything you will need to pass your poolmates."

I all but hissed back a response! To think he thought I wasn't doing my studies! I turned away from him and moved to the computer console. I palp melded and used his passcode. What I found was nothing more than enlightening. Documents on the war, the experiements, the species we have enslaved. I couldn't believe it! There was a lot of information on the andalites, the gedd, the taxxons, and the hork-bajir.

Blades on the head, wrists, elbows, knees, talons for feet, spikes on their tails. I quickly became a self-appointed expert on the species. I tried to imagine what they would look like, how they would move. I was lost in my thoughts. I didn't hear the summons, Oldster Gilth awakened me to it.

"Agrath71 to the infestation pier."

I raced to the pier as fast as my body would take me, then waited. It seemed like such a long time. There was nobody in front of me. What was taking them so long? Was this a test? I wouldn't put it pass the Council or the Visser on the ship to test me in such a way. But then the splash. I raised to the ear canal. I secreted my numbing liquid and pushed in. It was dark, dry. I kept going, my instinct told me not to be afraid. Then I felt it. Warm. Soft. Alive. The pulses of the energy of brainwaves made me tingle. I wrapped myself around the brain, connected my neurons to the neurons in this brain. I found the control panel of the brain and opened my eyes.

Sight! It was wonderful! I saw the two large hork-bajir who had held this creature under water. I saw the computer stations, the creatures manning them. I look at my own body. I saw power. I opened and closed my claws, a smirk appearing on my face.

"Agrath71, it is time for your training. You will not have it easy. You will not enjoy what happens if you mess up. Our Visser is in line for the Council and if this experiment works he will be well rewarded, if you fail then he will have you suffer a starvation like nothing you've ever heard of before." I looked around for the voice, it wasn't from the hork-bajir that held me, but something that looked like a hairless gedd. It must have been some new species we found and haven't documented yet. "Do you understand me?"

I felt around in the head, found the neurons that enabled speech, and opened my mouth. "Grrshy, lok shee." That was more confusing then I expected it to be. My current commander smirked and tossed me a tiny device. I reached out and caught it deftly in one hand. I hooked it under my neck and spoke. "Yes, my commander."


	3. Chapter 2

"Wretched underling! You didn't come on your first summon! You didn't make neurological contact in an appropriate amount of time! What is your name and station?" the hork-bajir that yelled at me was a full two feet taller than me, his blades making most of the height. I was frightened to face him. I could barely keep the quiver from my voice when I answered him.

"I am Agrath71 of the Hett Simplat Pool. I have no station. I -"

"That is all I asked for! You keep speaking and you will never have a station to speak of." He paused for a moment. "I could always allow you ample time out of the pool. You would like that, yes?" His voice was silky, dangerous.

"Yes?"

"Yes, a good long time out of the pool. A nice, long starvation. Maybe feeling that would give you the incentive needed to quickly follow orders in a precise amount of time!"

I cringed. It was my third hour outside of the pool and already I was being lectured. Nobody told me the experience would be like this.

"Exit."

I disconnetected myself from the neurons then pushed and pulled myself through the earlobe. My commander was holding the container I was to drop into. I reached the outside of the ear, felt air whipping by, then a hard ground. There was a grumble I believe was the "oops" that he generally said when nothing was really a mistake. I felt myself lifted and dropped into the liquid. It was clear, void of life sustaining kandrona. It was a small container, no room to swim. The water sloshed, I made my way to the deeper end and waited for the earlobe.

It never came. I felt myself pouring out, I landed in a bigger container of the same liquid. I felt pulses in the water telling me to palp-meld with the computer. The instructions came fast and often separated. It was nonsensical! There was no consistancy! I felt the pulses. I have ten minutes to figure out the clues so that I may execute them.

There were trees. It said to climb trees. Then it said to kill something. Kill what? And what trees? There are none on the ship! No, there has to be something else here. Trees. Hork-Bajir live in trees. We're no longer on that planet, though. So, killing something in a tree. There were reports about trees on a different planet. Silnub, a planet of humanoid creatures, much like the gedd lived there. They called themselves the Triltune. They were unacceptable as hosts due to the fact that their mental neurons were scattered throughout there body. The largest of which was indeed in their head, but to control that smooth lobe would be much like controlling a rock. Or so I read in the reports.

I must climb a tree and kill something. That's what I didn't get. There were hork-bajir everywhere and ships. Then the triltune. War! There is a war. The tree was large. There was a building atop it made of dried muck. A lone figure sat inside. Or was he outside now? He was a large and imposing figure. He had one arm, but was formidable with it. I saw him take down several of our gedd hosts. He was quick, he had our hork-bajir warriors set back. But they were clumsy! So clumsy.

"Computer, I am ready to execute the triltune captain."

A head splashed into the water and I went to the ear. I pushed my way inside, made contact, and touched a claw to my head in salute.

"8.20 minutes. There may be hope for you yet. You are indeed going to execute the triltune captain, but you will be going alone. You will have your pick of one weapon. You will have no armor. You will leave no trace behind of who you are, what you are. Make your decision and keep in mind that the type of decision you make will impact the way you die if you fail."

My commander stepped aside, behind him were tables filled with dracon rifles, smaller dracon guns, energy blades, needles with different poisons inside of them. They were named and numbered. I chose a needle with a liquid the same color of our pool water. Zilon's Hate, it was called. It was a biological poison aimed at destroying the neurological epicenter of a creature. Seeing as this one had no complete epicenter it should disperse through its body and melt it from the inside. Or, it would feel that way. Supposedly anyway.

My first mission. Its been my fourth hour out, now. My movements were stiff as I made my way to the travel pod that will take me down to where I needed to go. The single needle hung at my side.

It was time to prove that I am not a complete waste of kandrona. As the door to the pod closed behind me, I couldn't help but feel like this was the beginning of something great. With the stroke that I use to kill this class one leader I set my own position and life in stone. If I fail...

I just won't fail.


	4. Chapter 3

My eyes were closed as the gedd hosts strapped me into the pod seat. I had no captain here, it would be auto-piloted to the deployment point. My claws tapped the syringe lightly as the pod lifted off sending a swooping sensation into my host's body and mind. I heard my host weeping uncontrollably. It thought we were going to die. Simple fool. The ship reached its destination in under an hour and dropped me off. As soon as I was out of it the hatch closed and the pod lifted off.

I could hear the dracon cannons in the distance. I smelled the dirt. The greenery. Sweat. Blood. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever smelled. I've only smelled the inside of the ship I was stationed on. The sterile liquids were horrible. But these..the smells of life and death were beautiful. I found my footing and made my way to the tree I had to climb. It was the tallest tree in the forest, easily found. I crept through the underbrush, I saw guards on edge. Each powerfully built hand sat on a sharp weapon. I flexed my fingers and crept nearer to a guard. When his patrol turned him away from me I stepped out of the brush, put my hand around his mouth and drew a wrist-blade across his neck. He struggled briefly, a pitiful gurgling issued from the slit in his neck, but he fell silent. I laid him down in the underbrush and covered him slightly so it looked liked he was merely being disobedient and left his post for regeneration purposes.

I stepped to the thick tree. My host wanted to taste the bark. I merely laughed at it's presumption that it would get to taste the bark if it was "good." I sunk my claws into the bark and began scaling the tree. I stopped only to check my positioning. I did NOT want to scale the tree only to come face to face with this powerful leader. I wondered what forced this race up trees. Maybe it was used to aerial attacks and wanted to lift above the foliage to better defend itself. But when in the air most attacks will come from the ground. Some races do not learn. They do not evolve! My claws felt the bottom of the dwelling and I pulled myself up as silently as possible. I took the needle from my side. I steadied my breathing and grinned.

The adrenaline pumped through my veins. I knocked on the back of the dwelling and then lifted myself onto the edge to pull myself onto the top. An alien voice yelled out. At least I thought it was speaking. It could have just been a growl. The creature ran out of its dwelling. It was the creature from my directions. It ran right beneath me and made a confused sounding chirp. I lept down onto the creature's back. It turned with surprising speed and hit me with its powerful arm. I grabbed a hold of the arm with my claws and used my falling weight to pull the creature into a fall. We fell a good ten feet before a branch stopped us. Its arm broke as I dropped on the opposite side of the branch. It didn't seem to notice. It opened its mouth to call to its guards below, but I used its own arm to swing closer and punched it in it's leathery beak. It jerked its head back and snapped at me then mimicked my swing to pull itself closer to me. The thing didn't seem like it could feel pain! I raised the needle in my hand in desperation and stabbed at it. I missed it each time I stabbed.

I felt like such a fool. I should have picked a better way to kill myself. This wasn't a chance to prove my greatness, it was a chance to weed out the weak. My eyebridges narrowed. No! I am not WEAK! I let it swing at me and when it was near I let go of its arm. It flew behind me and I fell. I focused on a branch below be and with fierce determination I grabbed the branch. As the dazed body of my contender dropped by I swung toward it and stabbed the needle into its back, pushed the liquid into its body and grinned as it finally let loose a squeal of agony. The body landed with a dull thud on the ground near the dead guard.

I keyed my com-link and with a growl in my voice I reported, "mission accomplished." The voice on the other end seemed surprised at hearing my voice. Who could blame them? Who would expect a rookie infester to have control over their host? I climbed back to the top of the tree and hailed the pod. I boarded it, strapped myself in, and sat in silence. My host didn't even babble or cry. I grew increasingly angry with my commander and the time I had to brood did not make me feel any happier.

After I docked I went straight to the debriefing room. There was a host body I had never seen there before, but my sole attention was on that of the taller hork-bajir. My commander. I stepped up to him, tilted my head up in a subservient way and slashed the wrist-blade I used to kill the guard across his chest. I sunk it in deep. It wasn't so deep as to kill him, but he had to go to the hospital wing. As he was carried out I put my snout right against his.

"Never underestimate me again."

A felt a surprisingly soft hand on my shoulder and I turned around to glare at this new host. An eye twitched. I didn't relax one bit, despite the gentleness of the touch.

"Agrath71, you have showed them what I have told them to expect. You have a fire in your eyes that wasn't there before. Are you ready for your real training?"

I squinted and went to a knee with an abashed look on my hork-bajir face. "Oldster Gilth, your mere presence humbles me. Tell me, what must I do."


	5. Chapter 4

**-:-Initiating Memory Dump: A71M002-:-**

**-:-Earth Date: January 17, 1987-:-**

"You're the most proficient sniper in the Yeerk military, you've proven to be an amazingly innovative fighter, you adapt well under any circumstance but you're cruel beyond belief to your fellow Yeerk. You've attacked your commanding officers on several occassions and have killed several of your subordinates. What do you have to say for yourself?" Zilkep232 peered down from the holographic image of the council. His bloated Taxxon body writhed, I held back a shudder as he consumed a bleeding body. One can never be comfortable watching a Taxxon eat.

Thanks...it was fun. "I apologize for my actions, but when blatant idiocy runs rampant what can one do but battle it and show what happens when stupidity dictates one's actions?" I was on trial. Three years under Oldster Gilth's tutiledge and they put me on trial immediately after the cunning old Yeerk died. "My goal is to maintain strength within the great and glorious Yeerk Empire, good members of the Council. You, yourselves, have not have gotten to your prodigious stations had it not been for watching the others around you die due to stupidity. I only wanted the strength and knowledge of the Council to extend outwards, intuitive leaders of the Council." I lowered myself in a bow. I was careful not to use the same flattering words twice.

The council members sat up proudly each time I complimented them, they were politicians and loved grovelling lessers. "Be that as it may, your tactics for killing rival that of Esplin9466 and we cannot have our numbers lessened by the actions of our own people. He's already been warned, considering his past successes we can not destroy him, but you are young. This is your first offense. We may be able to overlook it or we may not. We must deliberate."

Darkness, silence. I stood, staring at the council's execution team. Fifteen Hork-Bajir, male, and armed to the teeth with Dracon Rifles. Several Taxxons stood behind them, but I wondered if there would be any part of me for them to feast on when the Hork-Bajir were finished with me. The time seemed to stretch on. Finally, the hologram popped up.

"Agrath71, we have deemed you far too valuable to kill. You will, however, be sentenced to serve under Esplin9466. He will teach you how to lead and you will give us reports on his progression with his missions. You are a great assassin, we do not doubt it. But now we must see your hand on inter-society espionage."

"Is he under investigation, esteemed leaders of the far reached Yeerk Empire?"

"Nothing of the sort, but it would be interesting to see what future Vissers think about when the eyes of the Council are closed. GO!"

"Yes, most honored harbingers of the Yeerk Empire."

I dipped myself in a low bow and exited the trial chambers of the transport ship. For the first time since I was a grub I had time to myself to think. I walked down the short hallways and was finally able to peruse the mind of this creature I inhabited.

It was a beaten host. A large Hork-Bajir female by the name of Lin Cortena. She was newly born when we first got to the Hork-Bajir homeworld. Before she was taken by us she was a mischevious child that got herself into a lot of trouble with the Andalites. She had fallen through the roof of a science facility and once inside behaved quite erratically. She even received a slight shock from a seemingly innocuous smooth blue box. When the Andalites found her in there they chained her up to a tree and left her there.

Then an attack! Our people had overrun the science facility and killed many of the Andalites there. Those that didn't die escaped into their pods and flew off to Zero-Space. She was taken by our people and used as a training toy for new grubs. I was the first to have kept her.

-=So, Lin. Betrayed by the Andalites and enslaved by the Yeerks. They left your people, they left you to me.=- I taunted her internally. -=But, no matter. We do not need to be enemies. No, we can be friends. You see, it was my people who liberated you from the chains of the Andalites.=-

-=You friend? You make Lin free?=-

-=No, no, silly Hork-Bajir. I did, however, release you from your indenture as a grub training body. I freed you from the constant boredom of being used for nothing more than sight experiments. I gave you a life.=-

-=You no friend! Friend make Lin free!=-

-=Maybe you will be free one day. Maybe we can walk side by side as friends. Does Lin have any friends? Anyone from the past?=-

-=Lin...Lin not remember.=-

-=Well, then, consider me your first friend. I will show you things nobody would ever be able to show you. A good friend does that.=-

-=You yeerk. Yeerk Lin friend?=-

-=Yes, it is the way it should be. Yes?=-

-=Yeerk friend. Yeerk save from Andalite.=-

-=Yes, now rest. And no more cries or threats.=-

-=Lin sleep.=-

By the Sulp Niar Pool! They said Hork-Bajir were stupid, I didn't think they were that stupid. But at least the insipid crying would end. I did not need the background noise, I was to watch a very dangerous Yeerk in a few weeks.


	6. Chapter 5

The days turned into an unbearable week. I spent my time talking to Lin, her stories were rather short and boring, but a few held some importance. I learned that not all Hork-Bajir were born stupid, some were "different," able to learn, to create, to lead. She told me that her parents said there was one named Dak Hamee born that way in a valley far from her own.

-=Music trees tell of Dak. They say Hork-Bajir born different. Dak Hamee learn from Andalite. Andalite teach Dak lies. Andalite teach Dak to kill. Dak lie to Hork-Bajir. Dak teach Hork-Bajir to kill. Family dies.=-

Her inadequate story-telling ability drove me mad, but luckily there were a few entries in the computer about Dak Hamee. He was lost within a valley on the Hork-Bajir world called "The Deep." A few entries mention a fight between him and an Andalite named Aldrea. A victory entry was entered in when the Andalite-turned-Hork-Bajir wench and her mate were killed. Her son was taken, but nothing about an extraordinary brain power. Damn! Perhaps she was lying. She said that the Hork-Bajir were taught to lie, but she was too young to have learned anything from that creature.

On sudden inspiration I decided to type in another data entry search.

Esplin9466.

Many, many entries. A few were on the Hork-Bajir battle, most were on Andalites. Their technology, he cross-researched many of his findings. Some of his entries had information on the Quantum Virus that they released to kill our hosts. Others had information on their shape changing. He was one of the first to see them morph. He was obsessed with it, that was why he wanted an Andalite body. I pulled up documentation on technology we stole from the Hork-Bajir world, I saw some pictures of a blue box. The same blue box Lin had handled as a child. No way of how to make it, but it was believed that box was what gave Andalites their morphing ability. Hrm.

I keyed up a communications console.

"Riktor122, this is Agrath71, report to my quarters _immediately_!"

I stood at the door and heard the familiar knock. Fifteen taps in rapid succession. The tap of a nervous Taxxon.

"Enter."

"Sreeeee stree!"

I stepped over to him and put a hand on his back, I wondered about how I would do this, wondered if it was painful. I thought of many things, what it would be like to be a Taxxon. I noticed the body becoming somewhat relaxed as I thought of all of this. I pulled my hand away and tilted my head.

"You may leave."

Riktor stood there for a few moments, I flicked him with a claw behind his lefft jelly eye.

"Leave. NOW!"

I did not know what would happen when I started to morph, if it even worked. But I did know that if my insides were to spill I would not want a Taxxon in the room with me. His body started to jiggle a bit, as if he was clearing his thoughts. He left the room, probably rather confused. It mattered not.

I started thinking about the Taxxon body again and felt my own body start to itch. I grew larger, legs grew from my chest, my eyes moved to the top of my head. I felt the insides slush around vaguely as I made the change. I started seeing the warmth around me, smelling several different types of blood, I heard heartbeats. I fell to the ground, my legs clicking against the metal. My body hardened to the Taxxon carapace. The world was different. There was so much life.

And I was hungry.

I ran to the doors and the walls, slamming myself against them. Able to smell blood and flesh, unable to get to it. My body started to bleed, legs broke off, but I kept running and scrabbling at the walls.

Lin was screaming inside my head. She did not know what was happening or why. She didn't feel the hunger, only saw that her body wasn't the same and that I was destroying her. Us.

-=Agrath! Lin friend! Lin help! Stop hurt body! Others hear. Others come! They eat! You bleed! They eat! Lin and Agrath die!=-

No. NO! I am NOT a mindless eating machine. I am Agrath71! I am the most dangerous Yeerk on this ship! But... the blood. I forced a picture of myself. Of Lin's body and felt the changes. I shuddered as my body finished changing to that of the Hork-Bajir.

"Never again. EVER!"

-=No more bad body.=- Lin agreed.


	7. Chapter 6

Father's Terror. That's what the Hork-Bajir called it. I called it the Bloodplague. The rolling, boiling point when Hork-Bajir felt the urge to kill their own. To use their blades in a predetermined point in a self-assisted genocide. The miserable Arn built this aspect into the otherwise peaceful Hork-Bajir. It was a way of thinning their numbers, to prevent them from over-harvesting the bark that kept their trees growing. I felt it. For the first time in my life I felt it. It was a beautiful feeling of darkness, of bloodlust. Each female that Lin passed she wanted to kill. Each male, as well, but to a lesser degree. I knew each of my fellow Yeerks were tasting the lust, reveling in it. I could see it in the way they glanced at each other, barely concealed hate in their eyes. One pilot spoke.

"We are approaching the Taxxon Homeworld," there was a low growl in his voice. I wanted to rip it out of his throat. To pounce on him for speaking. He has no right to speak unless I tell him to do so! Insolent male...

"Hailing the fleet of Sub-Visser 7," my female communications officer reported. Wretch of a female she was, her blades always dull. An easy target.

"Yes, full visual for Sub-Visser 7. We are in his space. Remain vigilant, we know there have been reports of Andalite vessels around this area of space." I spoke, my claws twitched. I could smell the hate.

His picture appeared on screen. He was intimidating, swelling with such arrogance that his large-sized male body could barely contain it. He was supremely confident in his every ability. Seeing him for the first time floored me. He was far more intimidating than the Council members, I was intrigued.

"Ah, Agrath71, I have received the messages from the Council," his eyes were sparkling with the same bloodlust, but he seemed almost bored with it. "You are a capable fighter, I have seen holodiscs of what you have done. I am impressed. You will do well here. Permission granted to land."

"Yes, Sub-Visser 7." My hosts eyes seethed in anger. I guess the Sub-Visser saw it.

"Enjoying the Terror? Yes, it is quite an interesting feeling. The feral anger is a great break from the tedious whining. If only we could have found a way to enslave the Arn. We could have designed ourselves armies upon armies of bloodthirsty weapons. No matter! They were excellent targets!"

My pilot had taken us to an empy birth next to a transport ship. The Sub-Visser cut communications as we landed. I walked through the opening hatch and heard a Taxxon scream. Shrieks filled the air, the smell of warm Taxxon gore flew into my nose. I shuddered. I looked down upon the scene of massacre. I saw the Sub-Visser approach me with five of his elite warriors. He looked over to the side.

"Interesting."

"The worries of Taxxons are not my concern. My concern is you and why the Council deemed it necessary to send you here."

"Sub-Visser, you should take more interest in your charges. I know the mind of a Taxxon as well as anyone here," I spoke coldly to the one who would be one of the most powerful leaders in the galaxy. "And I know a Taxxon would never leave fresh meat." I pointed to a Taxxon that was backing away from the macabre feast. "I may be new to the planet, but I was chosen for all of my missions for my perception. _ALL _of my missions, Sub-Visser."

"Then walk with me, let us unravel this mystery."

We made our way to the strange Taxxon. I walked beside the Sub-Visser, a smug grin on his face.

"Welcome to the Taxxon Homeworld," he said. "I am Sub-Visser Seven. You interest me. Yes, indeed. I am very interested in any Taxxon who will not eat fresh meat."


	8. Chapter 7

I followed behind the Sub-Visser onto a walkway, then stood to the side while we rode down the conveyor. He spoke of Taxxons that were trying to rebel. I made a note of it, if he could not keep control of our allies, how was he going to do against our enemies? Then he called the creature an Andalite. But it couldn't be possible. No Andalite was that stupid! No Andalite would land on a Yeerk controlled world. I shook my head slightly. No, that wasn't correct, one Andalite had, though he didn't know what he was getting himself into. The conveyor came to a stop. I peered out below, at the free Taxxons reaching up to grab for the meat they were going to receive. I grinned as I heard the command. I assisted in knocking the Andalite, yes Andalite, into the pit of hungry Taxxons. He was defiant. His name was yelled so angrily at the Sub-Visser. I'm no farseer, but I could feel that this Andalite was going to be a needle in Esplin's side. I knew, even as I pushed my fellow yeerks into the pit after him, that only Esplin could be the one to kill this Andalite.

"Kill him! Shoot the Andalite scum!"

"They won't get him. They're too afraid to destroy potential hosts. Their fear makes them ineffective, Sub-Visser."

"Go in after him! Cut him to pieces!"

Two Hork-Bajir jumped into the fray, they pushed passed the Taxxons and slashed and tore at the Andalite. He demorphed quickly and remorphed into a feathered creature. He lifted into the air.

"Shoot it! Shoot it!" the Sub-Visser yelled furiously.

"But...the Taxxons may be hit," one fool protested, apparently oblivious to the psychotic look in his leader's eye and the spittle hanging from the beaked lips.

"I really don't care, shoot!"

One zealous Hork-Bajir, eager to impress his Sub-Visser shot at the Andalite, hitting the stalactites. They crashed down, killing several potential hosts. I sighed, shaking my head. The Sub-Visser shot a worried look in my direction, glared at the fool firing, and slashed his neck before pushing him into the pit of feeding Taxxons. Another trait to put into my report to the Council. He was amusing to watch, nonetheless. The tram sped off, leaving the other two fools below to find their own way out. He was fuming when we returned. His anger sent his minions scurrying like so many insects, he wanted that body so badly. He would gladly have killed all of his minions for that body. An obsession from years back, I suppose.

Two times or more defeated by the morphing technology of our worst enemies.

"Sub-Visser. Perhaps, instead of ranting and killing the Gedd hosts, you should figure out a way to get the body you so desire."

"And how do you suggest we do that? You've seen the fools that serve me. I've seen your repertoire. You were made for killing, not capturing. What information do you have that would be so important?"

I sent a glare his way, my fists clenched. I wanted nothing more than to rip the arrogant fool from his host head and chew it up.

"Perhaps, _Sub_-Visser," I said with a sneer, "You should assume there are more than one. What reason could they be here but to drive us out? There must be more than one here. Surrender to them. Let them take you...a defenseless prisoner."

"Never! I would never allow myself to be taken! You should be killed for such a preposterous and traitorous statement! Best of the best in-"

"Sub-Visser Seven! We have a ship coming to land in port! Its signatures are Andalite, but it hasn't fired! A strange being walked out. One head, two eyes, bi-ped. No tails or way of defending itself that can be seen."

I smirked, tilting my head. I smelled an Andalite trap. I needed to see how Esplin would deal with this new bit of information.

"Follow me. We will meet this creature. Everyone on full alert, if the ship so much as hums I want it blown up and the creature's body scattered to the winds!" He sent a furious glare my way as I moved along behind him before he grabbed one of his minions by the neck. "Do. Not. Fail. Me."

I witnessed this from behind the arrogant Sub-Visser, my eyes scanned the mass of gathering hosts. Each one on a hair trigger. The Sub-Visser approached the craft. The creature held up its hands.

"_Hye! Hye! Rlakz! Yew ken poot daown teh whep unz. Ahm naut hyre tue fiet. Ahm hyre tue treyd._"Gibberish. What? Did he think we had the ability to speak within the minds like the filthy Andalites?

Then the creature did something that could not be mistaken. He acted as though he was handing us something, then acted as if he was getting something back.

The Sub-Visser laughed. "It wants to trade! What do you have to trade, alien?"

The creature pushed forward another of its type with a smile, "_Thutz wout ahye av tue treyd. Ey howel plan nit fwel uhv thut_."

The Sub-Visser took the offering with a smile and escorted the strange alien back to our building and down a long hallway to the right. I made a few executive decisions of my own.

"You. Get a universal translator chip. You, set up a small pool in the meeting chambers, we will need two unhosted Yeerks."

I fell into step behind the Sub-Visser as he walked by, "Agrath 71, this will be quite a momentous day, I can feel it."

"Indeed. In the short time I've been here there has been a small invasion. Quite the coincidence." Perhaps he allowed the Andalite to get away too easily. Death by torture or kandrona starvation for that. I chuckled to myself. "We will take these creatures to the meeting room. I ordered one of your minions to set up a pool, another to get a translator chip."

"You ordered? _You..._" he stopped mid-sentence, remembering who he was, in essence, speaking to. I smirked.

"Indeed."

The Taxxon with the translator chip caught up to us before we entered the meeting room. He handed me a thin chip that would lay beneath the tongue of this creature until we can fight him with a proper brain chip. This was supposedly able to translate the waves of spoken word into _Galard_. It hasn't failed yet. I handed it to the alien and opened my mouth to stick out my tongue. I pointed under my tongue to tell him to place it there.

"Ellike.. ey lyk.. I like what you have done to this place. Very science fiction." The creature spoke. "Very Star Trek."

I had no idea what that meant.

"So, creature, what have you to say?" the Sub-Visser said. Quick and to the point. He is nothing if not blunt.

"Yue...you can underrstand me?"

"Yes, yes. Speak and it will translate." I hate a slow species.

"I have a deal to make. I was taken from Earth. You know Earth? Big planet. Grass, oceans, one sun. One moon. These bug looking things took me. And then I was taken by these blue deer-looking creatures. They spoke in my head. They threatened me with their wicked fast tails. They treated me like an inferior. And this bitch helped them. She humiliated me. Just like everyone else back on Earth. Just like my parents." His face scrunched up into an unpleasant expression. "I'm tired of that. I want to be big. I want to be powerful. From what I hear you guys are the ones who are winning this war. You guys are the ones I want to talk to. You guys can make me strong. And in exchange, I show you where to get these. Billions...of these." He pointed to the girl, then slapped her hard.

"How do we know it is not a trap?" the Sub-Visser asked.

"Give me a lie-detector test! I'm not lying. I'm tired of being treated like a kid! I'm tired of being weak! I'm tired of being dragged places I don't want to go!" he screamed.

"There is one sure way to know," I said with a malicious grin.

We walked over to the pool on a stand in the otherwise empty and metallic colored room. I kicked the legs of the creature out from under him and pushed his head none too gently into the pool. He struggled a bit, thinking we were going to drown him, then struggled more when he felt the pain in his ear. I pulled him up in time to see my brother or sister Yeerk slide into his head. The eyes on this alien went unfocused. The body sagged.

"Hrelo. Herelo. Hello. Essak 924 of the Sistrac Mill Pool, reporting. What this alien says is true. He feels quite angrily about the Andalites that have him in their possession. This is no trick. There are three. Two smaller ones and a large one. He thinks the two smaller ones are children, the big one a warrior. A commander of some sort. Ruthless. This big one was on the Hork-Bajir world."

"Any number of Andalites could have been on the Hork-Bajir world. But no matter, this one was a warrior. Had to be bigger than this 'Elfangor.' It isn't hard to distinguish the sizes apart." Esplin mulled over this information. "Only three Andalites?"

"Yes, my Sub-Visser."

"Then...perhaps this idea of yours will work. Essak, you will vacate this host. I will use you in a different host soon enough." I saw the evil in his eyes, I saw the malicious smile. The eagerness of a plan that will succeed. It was a look I enjoyed on future Vissers. Looks that proclaimed victory.

A few hours later the plan was outlined. Each Yeerk in the vicinity was told of the new leadership. I was to be in charge while the Sub-Visser went into space. A tracking chip was put onto the Andalite vessel, and a great event was set into motion. It was so easy getting him onto the ship, the Taxxon rebellion was a stroke of luck. It caused enough confusion for the young Andalites not to worry why the humans were at the ship, why the Sub-Visser gave up so easily.

When the ship took off and carried Esplin to safety I turned around and stared at the remaining Hork-Bajir.

"Gather all of the remaining Yeerk forces at this base. Load them into ships. As soon as the Andalite vessel is out of sensor range we lift off, we bomb this platform, and we restore order as soon as possible. The Sub-Visser may need us soon. The human said that the Andalites were looking for something here, when he tries to find it we will be ready."

Another hour and the explosion was beautiful. I got a message from a control pilot on the opposite side of the planet as I was landing my fighter.

"Begin repairs." I typed in to open communications. "Speak."

"Agrath 71, there is an Andalite that says he is Esplin 9466. Our fighters are currently chasing an Andalite on the ground and we - "

"STOP FIRING YOU FOOL! Get your fighters on a chase vector with the Andalite ship. I will contact it, personally...just to be sure."

I punched up communications to the Andalite vessel. A sneer and suspicious look on my face. "Sub-Visser Seven, planet control respectfully directs you to land."

I will land when I deem it necessary to land, fool!

"I knew immediately it was you, Elfangor," I smirked. "Sub-Visser Seven would not have chosen a child's body to use. Not when he knew of a greater prize. Goodbye, child." The bug fighters converged on the Andalite vessel, I raised my own fighter back into the air and flew to the last point Esplin was seen running.

Cutting it close, aren't we, Assassin?

"Great gain comes with great danger. This will make an amazing report. Did you give that human our last command?"

Of course, and he is eager to execute it. the Sub-Visser laughed. He laughed and laughed. Not the maniacal laugh of a madman. The pure and genuine laugh of a happy Yeerk. He was giddy. The Council was right in considering him as a Visser. And I made it my duty right then and there to throw my support behind his climb to greatness.


End file.
